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Experiencing Chicago from the water is a whole different experience than from land. After crossing the lake with several hours with only sea and sky surrounding us, the hint of the skyline was a welcome and stunning view. It seemed impossible to me that what appeared to be tumbled piles of...
I recently tasted and snacked and nibbled my way through Chicago. Not hard to do. Plenty of great restaurants in the Windy City. This was different. A friend and I took a Tastebud Tours, a culinary adventure that took us to a variety of eateries in the Gold Coast area, exposing us to hot...
“Retail Design is all about creating an experience,” I was told recently at a program at Kendall College of Art and Design, a little jewel of a school in Grand Rapids, MI. One of the Interior Design instructors made this remark when I commented on how challenging it must be to teach...
Whenever I go to Primitive at 130 North Jefferson Street in the Fulton River District of Chicago, I wonder what to call it. A store? A showroom? A meditation site? A museum? A party palace? It’s all of those places and more. For me it’s like taking a trip to an exotic destination. The...
I arrived in Chicago the day AFTER the big snowstorm expecting to see lots of snow and I did. What I didn’t expect and thoroughly enjoyed were the hundred colorful and artistic acrylic HEARTS lined up on both sides of Michigan Avenue. The Hearts, a project sponsored by Northwestern’s Bluhm...
Wow! I looked at my blog stats page recently and noted that I had done 124 posts. In Old Media terms, this is 124 articles (of sorts). I never dreamed when I launched DesignDestinations in August of 2009 I would find this so much fun, be so stimulating and receive such positive responses. I...
Last week I had an opportunity to attend SOFA in Chicago. No, I didn’t lounge around in a furniture store. SOFA is a massive and annual art happening in Chicago. New York and Sante Fe also have SOFA events. The Chicago event occurs at Navy Pier the first weekend in November. It’s a three-day...
Normally when I go to Chicago and make my way down the Magnificant Mile of Michigan Avenue I am drawn to the delights in the windows of the the ritzy and fashionable stores, the wild getups of the people on the streets and the always fabulous floral or botanical displays along the...
I am totally in awe of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. In fact, I’m so taken with the this rock star of photojournalism that I went to see his work twice–at two different museums. The first time was in NYC last May at the Museum of Modern Art. It captured my interest to the...
Recently I went to Chicago for the day to go to two art exhibits–a wonderful photography presentation at the Chicago Institute of Art and a Calder exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Both were interesting, stimulating and worth seeing.